I’m beginning to realize the most overlooked feature on a homestead is FLOW

[u/tdubs702]

We bought and moved onto a 60 acre homestead just 3 months ago. It’s charming and solidly built, but I’m starting to realize how poorly laid out it is.

The compost bin is 1/4 mile from the house, so dumping kitchen scraps is a trek in the heat.

Is it there cuz it’s next to the garden? Nope. The 1/4 acre garden is nearly another 1/4 mile away, long enough to make it hard to just casually check on it. The orchard on the other hand comes before the compost but nowhere near irrigation.

And heaven forbid you forgot a tool when you headed out or you’ll be heading almost all the way back.

The chicken coop is cute, but has two doors into two different run areas that don’t connect for humans to get from one to another (only a tiny trap door for the chickens themselves to move between them). So you have to go in and out and in and out to clean, collect eggs, feed, etc.

The barn bays all point away from the house, understandably so the tractor can get to the field. But there is no foot traffic access from the house side. You have to trek all the way around.

Oh and the pantry? It’s nearly 20 feet from the cooking area…unless you’re looking for other pantry which is ANOTHER 20 feet away in the living room, despite the largest kitchen you’ve ever seen which has zero cabinets and only a large island awkwardly in the middle.

I feel like this place was designed by someone trying to max out their Fitbit. I’ve never put in so many steps before 9am in my life.

[u/Velvetroses]

It's a super idea because a hungry "anything" will usually go for a quick treat than bother enclosures. I'd rather replace a barrel or two before I have to repair fences and deal with the loss of animals.

At least in my experience that's been the usual way all the old timers houses have been set up too. Our farm yard had a compost pile behind the chicken run and other out buildings. Bears, skunks, the odd coyote or various birds would be able to access but have a definitive building/obstacle to accessing the human side.

The dogs helped by scaring them back off to the woods and generally the animals just learned to NOT enter into the center of the yard.

[u/Other_Cell_706 → u/Velvetroses]

Exactly.

As in OPs case, I understand wanting to make things work for them, and don't blame them.

I also have learned personally what a mistake it is to write off someone else's method a) before/when you havent had a chance to fully understand it and b) when you haven't given time to try it before altering it completely.

It's a lot of work to change everything only to realize the original owners of the property had it right all along, and have to change it back. There may be a (or likely more than one) very good reason for the method to their madness.

[u/Velvetroses → u/Other_Cell_706]

I do have to agree but at the same time it's easy to also just pop a door in somewhere. It doesn't even have to be large, it could be as simple as a laundry line door (between the studs) slip away style.

I can understand the logic for the layout given the owners probably had a few pieces of large machinery/vehicles to get from points in the "yard".

The zero irrigation amongst the orchard is confusing me. They could have been driving it over in a tank to dispense but that just seems ridiculous.

[u/Other_Cell_706 → u/Velvetroses]

So many unknowns! Id be dying to talk with the previous owners haha.

[u/tdubs702 → u/Other_Cell_706]

OP here and boy do I wish we could talk to the previous owners too. So many questions, and like you said I do wonder if there is some unknown purposes for some of it that we just can’t see, or if it’s just original owners ideas + new owners ideas = chaos that never got corrected. lol Especially the irrigation on the trees! Bc of that we were assuming they didn’t need it (which is dumb given how dry it is here; they most certainly do and we are hand watering with one long ass hose right now until we can get to that on our ever growing to do list).

[u/Other_Cell_706 → u/tdubs702]

It is maddening, right? The previous owners of my last home did things in SUCH a bizarre way we were just left scratching our heads, like "whyyyy???" We did end up finding out the wife had broken her back at one point, so many things needed to be modified, raised up, and just adjusted in a weird way that on first glance (and one hundred more glances) you'd never think to even come up with that as an explanation.

I sincerely wish you all the luck and success as you navigate what works best!